Three months later

I decided to do as Kristalys asked, and think about what those first three months in Swtor have been like for me.

I've only been levelling so far, and I have yet to reach level 50 on any of my toons, so that's the only part of Swtor I know, but to me, this game is pure fun. I think my favourite part is the class stories. I've tried lots of advanced classes so far and enjoyed most of them, at least for a while. Each advanced class has a little something that is unique and absolutely fun to play, so I can't pick just one and run with it. The stories are so varied, and engrossing, you just have to know what's happening next! And the voices! I just never get bored of listening to myself (my characters) talk, for some reason. It adds a brand new dimension to the characters and their personality. It can make or break a character, if the physical appearance you picked just doesn't fit with the voice. I just love to try and create the perfect character for each class, to have all these elements work well together. 

So for me, the Swtor experience has been amazingly fun. I'm the kind of person who likes to create a lot of different characters, and who enjoys levelling more than anything, and I think Bioware did an amazing job at making the levelling experience incredibly enjoyable. For some reason, there's a voice in the back of my head telling me that I have to hurry and get a toon to level 50 soon so I can experience everything. But it occurred to me that I have plenty of time to see the endgame content before it all becomes obsolete. There will be time later to do dailies, and farm gear and raid. Right now, what's important is to have fun, to play the classes I feel like playing, and see all the stories of as many classes as possible, because those are really great stories that are totally worth seeing at least once.

So over the last three months, I've created a lot of characters, deleted some, and am quite happy with my little family of alts. I have a strong preference for the Empire classes, but I do want to eventually level at least one of each republic classes also, if only to see their story. 

There will come a day when I grow bored with the characters I have, when they are all level 50, and when there's no new content to see. But that day is still far away.

The End of Act 1 : Sith Warrior Edition

Disclaimer : This may contain spoilers about the Sith Warrior questline. 

Quinn, Lyr, Andronikos and Kizu in Alderaan

Yesterday I finally saw the Sith Warrior Act 1 ending, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

"I'm going to enjoy kicking
your face in."

All the time we were questing on Alderaan, all I could think about was how anxious I was to see the Sith Warrior's Act 1 ending, and get my new companion as well as the Lord title. All along, I chased a padawan called Jaesa that can see the light and dark side in anyone. Which means you can't exactly hide your intentions where she's around. Jaesa's master, Nomen Karr, tried to hide her from us, to protect her from Baras, whose spy network is compromised by Jaesa's unique ability to read people. In an attempt to lure her out of hiding, I had to (among other things) kill her parents by using force choke on them. That ability never ceases to amuse me. (Ever since I got the ability to actually do it in combat - around level 26 I think it was - I've been using it on cd. It gives rage, it keeps the mob from hitting you while you are channeling, and it's just plain fun to see.)

Being a Jedi sucks. When I grow
up, I wanna be a Sith!

After looking for Jaesa on Tattoine and Alderaan, I finally found her master on Hutta, where he tries to kill me to save his padawan. I had to defeat him three times before he finally gave up. (Those encounters were fairly easy with Quinn healing me. But I kept thinking, "What, you want me to kick your ass some more, stupid Jedi?") That is when Jaesa showed up, despite her master's order to stay away.

After I defeated her, Jaesa realized that the dark side is stronger than the light, and she wants to be a part of it. It really didn't take her long to jump ship. It's as if she was only waiting for an opportunity to switch sides. She finds the dark side to be a lot more easier, more enjoyable and more fulfilling than being a Jedi ever was. Well duh! Welcome to the dark side, Jaesa. We torture, we kill, we dance naked, covered in the blood of our enemies. Oh and we encourage you to fuck as much as you want. Hope you love it here!

I'm not sure  exactly why, but
the song "Bad to the bone"
comes to mind.

I'm quite happy that Lyr has got an apprentice who is as evil as she is. Lyr killed innocents, tortured people that had information on Jaesa's whereabouts, and she betrayed people that had helped her, only to get what she wanted, and it was all worth it. Jaesa's affection will be easy to gain.


So in conclusion, I'm pretty pleased with the Sith Warrior storyline so far. It's been good fun, and I'm looking forward to see what's coming next. I'm a bit sad though that Lyr hasn't been able to flirt with anyone, yet. At that point, my Sorcerer had shared sexy time with a fellow Sith. Quinn is pretty stuck-up, and hasn't been much fun in the romance department so far. Here's hoping that will change soon.

How Crew Skills forced me to roll another alt

Kizu and I finished Tatooine this week, so this weekend, we were ready for Alderaan and the end of Act 1 (which will be the object of my next post). As we were maybe halfway through the zone, Kizu pointed out that our gear was pretty outdated and suggested that we upgrade our orange pieces to kill more efficiently. Lyr being an Artificer, I started looking for enhancements and hilts to craft for us. It took a couple (way too many) tries for me to get the blue quality version of the Might enhancement I needed, and only one try for Kizu's Resolve enhancement. The same thing happened for the hilts. Someone out there must hate me. I also got us some neat +14 crit red crystals.

But we also needed mods and armoring! Kizu's Bounty Hunter is a Cybertech that can craft those, but since he was pretty low on mats, he made us only some armorings, and we bought mods with Alderaan Commendations. Needless to say, once we upgraded all our orange gear, we started killing mobs noticeably faster. I think we spent more time Saturday night crafting upgrades then actually playing. But that's fine, because it was fun.

Kizu's main being his Sith Assassin, his Bounty Hunter hasn't had much love in a while, except to do the space mission dailies occasionally for credits. In order to support us all the way through level 50 on his own, he would have to get scavenging mats solely through missions, which would be way too costly.

That is why I needed to start a new alt! Say hello to the new addition to the family!

Fredrick, my future Sniper

Fred will be our scavenging mats farmer, and our slicer for cash and augments. I know I said I wouldn't start another alt yet, but it's for a good cause! I blame crew skills for being so fun and the craftable stuff for being so good. The quality of the gear really does make a difference in the leveling process. Being able to craft our own item modifications is totally worth it.

Hopefully, I'll be able to level him enough this week so he can get level-appropriate mats for Lyr and Kizu as soon as possible.

My characters : Focusing on what I have

I've been thinking in the last couple days about what I want to do with my characters.

Marauder Lyrestra
before she turned to the dark side.

Of the toons I have, the ones I actually plan on leveling to 50 are the marauder, the juggernaut and the sorcerer, and the Gunslinger on another server. (By the way, how anyone manages to solo level a sorcerer is beyond me. I geared Khem Val with the best gear I could find, and he still dies quickly, and my dps seems pretty low. I also feel very squishy. But since Jori was my first character on the server, that she's level 35, that her biochem is almost at 300, and that I'm rather fond of her, I've decided to suck it up and get her to the level cap. Eventually. Just not by myself. Yay for leveling buddies! To all of you Sorcerers out there, I just don't know how you do it!) 

Sorcerer Jori trading an
holocron for assassins.
Sounds plausible enough.

I have other characters as well : Alyss the mercenary and Ashan the Sith Assassin. The problem is that I don't really enjoy either playstyle very much. I find myself reluctant to put time on characters I'm not sure I even like. I love how Ashan looks, because he's one mean badass, but I really don't see myself leveling an assassin. As for Alyss, she will most likely be deleted in the near future. Maybe I'll replace her with a Powertech! With me, who knows?

So far, I've always started my characters on a whim, without thinking it through, just "hey! I wanna try that now!" and just went with it. Sometimes, I just feel like trying a new playstyle, and some other times, it's as stupid as wanting a specific look (like Ashan), or a pretty hairstyle (like the Gunslinger, but that one turned out to be lots of fun!) I would prefer to have some sort of logic in all this, so here are my plans for my beloved characters. 

Nass doesn't have much patience.
"Your breathing is now dependant
on my tolerance as well."

• Lyrestra the marauder is my favourite toon, and my first love in Swtor. (My first character ever was a marauder. I blame Kizu for changing my mind and making me roll a Sorcerer when we switched servers. /glare ) She will reach level 50 and will receive all the love she deserves. Her class story is one of my favourites so far. I'm really enjoying myself when I play this character.
• Jori the sorcerer's story isn't as enticing as Lyr's, but I've already put much time and efforts in leveling her and her crew skills, so she will reach the level cap as well, if only to craft stims and medpacs for the rest of the family. Leveling her alone has been a pain, that's why I'm looking forward to leveling her with my bf.  
• Nass the juggernaut was created because I wanted to have a romance with Jaesa, and because I like the male warrior voice. The playstyle is similar to the marauder's but different enough to be interesting. I'm confident I can get him to the level cap and have fun even if I've already seen the Warrior storyline with Lyr. I just love warriors that much.
• Ashan the Assassin most likely won't be leveled very far, not anytime soon anyway, but I just can't bring myself to delete him, because he's just too cool. So for now, I will store all my mats and whatnot in his cargo hold, and maybe I'll level him slowly, if I ever feel like it. 
• In the future, I absolutely want to roll an Imperial Agent (a sniper), most likely a human male. I already know I love the playstyle, and I've read many times how cool their story is. Ideally, I'd create this toon after I reach level 50 on at least one of my Empire characters, and maybe on my Gunslinger as well. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Annoyed Ashan is annoyed.

As far as the Legacy thing goes, I have a vague idea of how my characters are related. In my head, Lyrestra and Nass are together, married or not, I'm not sure yet, but they definitely care for each other. Jori is either Nass or Lyr's apprentice. Probably Nass', so Lyr can be a little jealous, and Jori can try to seduce her master. Ashan is Lyr's apprentice, and also her boy-toy. *wink wink* He and Jori do not get along at all, which amuses Lyr greatly. As for the Sniper, he will be someone's brother. I know, that's not much to go on, but he hasn't been created yet!

What about you? Did you have a plan in mind when you created your characters, or did you just create them randomly? Are you unable to delete characters for whatever reason, or on the contrary, is it easy for you?

Quick Post : I'm gonna need more character slots.

See what I did there? I asked for Legacy info in my last post, and I was handed a Guild Summit to answer all my questions! But seriously, I had no idea that was coming. I stumbled upon it yesterday and I was pretty excited. Lots of good stuff out there, coming our way. And some stuff I wish could come sooner (addons, macros, resizeable buffs and debuffs, same-sex romances, etc.) But still, it's pretty damn exciting. 

It was announed, among other things, that when you reach the level cap with a certain species, it gets unlocked for other classes across both factions. (Like you could choose a Chiss for a Jedi?) Am I the only one who thought : "Fuck, now I have to level a <insert your favourite race unavailable for your favourite class here > to 50!" ? In my case, that would be a Twi'lek. 

Twi'lek Bounty Hunter anyone?

Quick Post : Legacy

I googled "Swtor Legacy level cap" on a whim today, (because I'm curious and think of random stuff like that out of nowhere) and ended up on the Swtor forums, where I saw a screenshot of a guy who's Legacy was level 40 ... a month ago. My question is : how? How many characters has he leveled to 50? I have loads of free time and I have a couple alts already, and my Legacy is only level 4. FOUR! Am I the only idiot who's Legacy level is so low? 

Speaking of Legacy, I'm really anxious to get more info about it. Oh like maybe new playable races? Fuck me, I'd have to roll new alts! Or delete some I already have and remake them...  If I could roll a Togruta (Ashara Zavros' race) I would reroll ALL THE TOONS... no, but seriously, I would definitely make one. I don't care what class. They're just so damn cool.

WTB Legacy info nao!

Pew pew all the things

My gunslinger is now level 37, and officially my higher level character. I'm excited to finally explore a new planet (Quesh), since Balmorra  is old news if you have a level 20ish Empire toon (or 4, like me). And I'm starting to feel the "omg I want a toon at the level cap!" itch. I don't want the story to end, but at the same time, I want to see it, too! Although I don't know what I'd do with a level 50 character... but that's another story!

I watched the storylines of some of the republic classes on youtube, since I don't really plan on leveling anything but my Gunslinger to the level cap, and some of them were pretty good. Others were boring as hell. But it made me want to see what happens to my cutie little smuggler. And I also kinda want to see her marry Corso. Yes, I know, I'm lame. But they're so cute together.

Also, today, for the first time, I took my Mercenary, respecced her healer, and went into Hammer Station with the boyfriend and his RL buddy. I must say that I was level 24, so I really was outleveling the flashpoint, but we were only three, with the bf tanking (lvl 22 Sith Assassin) and the friend dps'in as a level 18 Sith Assassin. It was pretty easy, except when we aggroed the whole room at the beginning, on the first boss where the dps was low and we hit the soft enrage, and on the last boss when the dps got punted off the edge and fell to his death. It was not "hard" in any way, but it was a little less faceroll than the rest. I kinda enjoyed my experience, though my wrist was a bit sore with all the Rapid Shot spamming. It made me wonder if I'd enjoy the Scoundrel/Operative healing. Or if I'd even enjoy having/leveling a healer toon at all.

Back in WoW, I was a healer for a while, but I stopped a long time ago, when it stopped being fun and started feeling like a chore. But when the bf asked me today if I would be interested in trying to heal for him and his friend, I thought "what the hell, I'll give it a try!" I'm not sure I'd want to go all out healer and heal all the things all the time, as I have a strong preference for damage dealing, but healing sure is quite fun once in a while.

So I'm curious. Which class do you prefer for healing? And why? Do you level as a healer, or do you respec when you feel like healing a flashpoint/warzone? Or are you like me and prefer to punch mobs in the face? Let me know!

Crew Skills are fun

Know what I did this weekend?

I crafted. And it was fun. 

I love crew skills. I love being able to send my companions to gather the mats I'm missing. I love being able to reverse engineer the things I make to get some mats back, and to have the chance to discover a better quality recipe. It makes leveling profession pretty exciting! Well, for me anyway. Maybe I'm just very easily excitable. And I actually enjoy going out of my way while questing to gather crystals, or plants, or whatever. Sure, it might slow down the leveling a bit, but I don't seem to care. I'm having fun. Never thought I'd ever enjoy gathering mats. But I am. And my goal would be to level every crew skill to 400. Lucky me, I have a shit-ton of alts!

I've been working on Artifice and Biochem mostly, as Kizu started an Assassin on the Empire server (fuck, I levelled a Jedi Knight to level 13 for nothing?!) and he needed some stuff to level faster. It's been quite fun. But I wish I had more companions. It would go faster. Would also be nice if my character could make herself useful. Because I send them to gather stuff, and craft stuff, and I just sit there and wait for them to come back. I suppose I could go gather some mats by myself, but it would be impractical, as I usually just stand by the crew skill trainer, so I can learn the next recipe.

I also played Lyrestra the Gunslinger a little this weekend. She's now completely done with Alderaan, and ready to start Balmorra. I must admit I was a little sad that the Republic gets to start on Bugtown, because I hate Bugtown, but hopefully I won't get to fight those damned Collicoids for too long. I really hope so. Fingers crossed. Fucking bugs...

On a side note, I had forgotten how much fun the smuggler/agent playstyle is. Made me want to role an Agent. Again. Maybe someday I'll be able to decide which race and gender I want to make it so I can actually level one past Hutta. 

Quick Post : Character update

So I figured out how to solve the two jedi shadow thing. (Since both me and the boyfriend were leveling one together.) I rolled a Sith Assassin instead!

(Apologies to Reznikov. I totally had to steal the look of yours. It just looks too damn good! They aren't exactly the same, but a bit close. The other tattoos aren't as cool. Please don't hate me!) I will totally get him the social pants from Kaas City's cantina, so he won't have to wear a skirt. Can't wait to get my double-bladed lightsaber!

And to actually level with Kizu, I decided to make a Jedi Guardian. I wanted to give it a try, as my Sith Warrior is a marauder. (That probably won't stop me from rolling a Juggernaut anyway.)

I made him pretty big and bulky, but he's a guardian for crying out loud. I wanted him to look at least a little threatening, even if he'll be dps. The hairstyle gives him some sort of "bad boy" look. I like it. But I think I made him more like a big softie teddy bear rather than a dangerous killing machine. Heh.

So yeah. A marauder, an assassin, a guardian and a gunslinger. Those are my main focus. For now.

I'm also still thinking about making a character over on Selly and Reznikov's server, cause I think it could be lots of fun! Although, I'm not sure what class I'd roll. Maybe (probably) another warrior, or maybe a lady Agent...

I'm making myself dizzy.  =/

CADD : Character Attention Deficit Disorder

Maybe you know by now that I change my mind a lot. And that I'm an alt whore.

Kizu doesn't have the time to level all sorts of alts like I do. So when he sits down and says "let's play Swtor" there aren't a thousand possibilities. He'll be either playing his Bounty Hunter or his baby Jedi Shadow. 

Me? Well. I used to play my Sorcerer with his Bounty Hunter. But I'm bored with her. Sure she shoots lightning and she is evil to the core. And I will most likely see her whole storyline someday. Just not soon. Because I've discovered that there are classes I enjoy more. Like the Sith Marauder for example.

/cue me sorting frantically through my Fraps folder (which already contains a gazillion screenshots 'cause I'm a bit crazy like that - god I wish windows xp allowed bigger thumbnails, this is a pain) for the perfect screenshot.

Lyrestra is Dark Side rank 2 on this picture.
The only reason I tolerate the mask is because
it doesn't hide her whole face, nor her hair.
Yes, I'm shallow like that.
On a side note, I wish Vette was evil.

But my Sorcerer was level 33 when I abandoned her, and the marauder was only, well, level one. So I've been leveling her - though I've given up waiting for rested XP. I want to play her, and I need her to be level 33 asap, to play with Kizu, but more importantly to see the end of Act 1 and get Jaesa in Alderaan. 

See, I'm a naughty girl. I love watching cut scenes on Youtube. Particularly the End of act 1 of each class and romances with companions. Since the moment I realized I could get a companion that would be pretty AND evil, I've wanted her. And I'm really sad that my Sith can't be a lesbian, 'cause she'd totally hit that. But anyway.

Lyrestra has been through Dromund Kaas and Balmorra so far. For some reason I can't explain, I just love Dromund Kaas. I love how it's all green and blue, I love the rain, the dark sky. I also love the quests a lot, particularly the Revanites part, Grathan's compound and the Dark Temple. I'm not sure what it is that appeals to me, but Dromund Kaas is always a lot of fun for me, maybe that's why I keep creating new characters.

He wants me dead for
cheating on him?
But it wasn't even good!

Balmorra isn't as much fun, but I liked it nonetheless. There's so much destruction to be done, so many people to kill! It would probably be a beautiful place if it wasn't for the war. I especially love the quest where a guy asks you to kill his wife for being a traitor. Poor girl is astonished that her husband could want to kill her for cheating on him. Maybe the funny part is that it's not even really about the classified documents that she supposedly gave to her lover, and more about her husband's pride.

Hopefully, today I'll be done with Balmorra and I'll be able to take a good chunk out of Nar Shaddaa. The less time I spend there and on Tatooine, the better. 

Now on the Republic side, Kizu has decided to start a Jedi Shadow. Now, that's a problem. See, we've decided to play Republic and Empire on different servers. On my Republic server, I already have a level 32 Smuggler (also named Lyrestra) which I love dearly.

I love everything about her, the story, the playstyle, the voice, the looks, and the companion/boyfriend Corso. He totally stole my heart. 'Cause he's such a sweetie. I leveled her quickly not because I was in a rush, but because I wanted to know what was coming next! And now I'm scared to see it end, so I've slowed down. In fact, I haven't played her in weeks, not because I'm bored with her, but because I don't want her adventures to end! I even considered leveling a second one, maybe as a male, to see the same story, but with different twists! And maybe I will. Someday.

But Kizu needed a leveling buddy, so I've decided to create a Jedi Shadow, too.

We didn't think this one through, though. Both our characters are females. So they have the same voice. And they wear the same robes. Heh. But I have to admit it's a lot of fun. Being able to stealth = win. We're still on Coruscant, since Kizu never feels like playing for long periods at a time. But it's been fun, and I look forward to playing some more!

The perfect character for you

Hi, my name is Lyrestra, and I'm an altoholic. But maybe you already knew that. 

I spend a lot of time staring at the character creation screen, making new characters that often end up deleted not long after. For some reason, I looove creating new characters. Trying new races, new hairstyles. Not all those characters end up deleted though. But it often takes me a couple tries before I'm happy enough with a character to actually start leveling it seriously (as in past level 20). 

In WoW, I have deleted a couple level 70ish characters. I have even deleted a level 80 once. Because they weren't exactly right. Yes, I am slow at realizing that, I know. 

I guess you could say I'm fairly OCD about my characters. If something is bothering me, the hair, the face, the general look (or in this case, the voice), I won't want to play the character, and he will most likely be deleted shortly after that. A lot of my characters have a pretty short lifespan. 

In Swtor though, it's not only about the looks or which class to take. It's also about the voice and the companions. Which, for me, makes it very complicated to create the perfect character.

For example, let's take the Imperial Agent. 

I created Zashana, a female Zabrak, and I think she is adorable. I particularly love her hair. Now, I absolutely love the playstyle. I wasn't so sure at first, but now, I'm addicted to it. I can't remember who it was, but someone was saying in their blog that they were playing the imperial agent like it was made of pure crack, and I can only agree. But my point is, I love the way she looks, I love the class, and I love her voice. But - yes, there is a but - the romance option for female Imperial Agents is Vector. The weird ass enhanced guy (whatever that means) who has a thing for aliens and speaks strangely. He really freaks me out. 

Maybe I'm superficial, but it's important for me to actually like the romance option for my characters. And this one, I don't like. Of course, I could just not flirt with him and try and just flirt with random strangers throughout the galaxy, but it feels like I'd be missing out on an important part of my character's story.

So I thought  "Hey! Why not make a male imperial agent?" Great idea. Except... I hate the male voice! With a passion! He annoys me almost as much as Malavai Quinn does (which says a lot, because I really hate Quinn's voice.) And as a male, what would be my romance options? Kaliyo and Ensign Temple. Yuk. I simply cannot imagine Kaliyo involved in a lasting relationship with anyone, and although she's badass and I kinda like her, she has the goth vibe that I don't particularly find appealing. I watched some videos on youtube about Ensign Temple romance, and she just annoyed the crap outta me. No way I'm flirting with this one.

So my solution for this was to roll a female smuggler. Which worked out pretty nicely.

 

Lyrestra has my favourite haircut, favourite face and eyes, a sexy scar, and I like the sound of her voice. Corso is a sweetheart, and I love all the stuff he says in combat. I also love his voice, which is a plus, and aside from the painful experience in Taris, I'm really enjoying my time spent on this character. 

Maybe someday, when I'm done with my favourite characters, I will go back to the imperial agent to see the storyline. But I'm guessing it'll take a while before I come up with a character I actually want to play as an imperial agent. 

And this is only one example. I love my characters, and I care about details. I want my characters to feel right as I play them. The story, the voice and the companions are a big part of the experience, so I think it's worth it to tweak my characters until I find the combination that feels just right. Because at the end of the day, what matters is you enjoy whatever it is you are doing.

But maybe I just think too much.

Confession

I have a confession to make.

I REALLY hate Taris.

Might not come as a shock to you, Republic people, but this place is a living hell. Balmorra is a pleasant walk in the park compared to this. See, I play mostly on the Empire side. As my higher character is still on Alderaan, Taris was a new place for me. (Empire players get to visit Taris at level 32ish, right after Alderaan. Republic players go there at level 16.) 

A few days ago, I decided to start a cute little smuggler.

Captain Lyrestra - Gunslinger

For some reason, I really love Corso. He's great at tanking for me, and we're pretty much unstoppable so far. I was planning to have some sort of neutral alignment but to please him, I went full on light side instead. Why yes, she wants to have Corso's babies. But I digress.

Going through Ord Mantel was a breeze. Fun quests, pretty straightforward. And pretty too, despite the fighting going on.

Love the grey sky, it's kinda romantic.

Then I went to Coruscant, which was gorgeous. For like 3 minutes.

Why are all the quests indoors?  >_>

Then it became dirty and grey and sewersy. What the fuck? Am I on Nar Shaddaa? It really made me miss Dromund Kaas. At least there's some vegetation there, and you get to see the sky more than three times.

But it wasn't so bad. It was pretty damn decent compared to the nightmare that is Taris. Ruins, and dirt, and lakes of acid, and beasts that can turn you into more beasts. Charming.

Everything looks the same on Taris : ugly.

I really hated the yellow-greenish landscape, the death traps, the backtracking (what? I have to go back there? I was just there! I killed like a million people to get there and I have to go back? No fucking way.) the gazillion Rakghouls to kill all over the fucking place, the OMG WHERE THE FUCK AM I? I have to go up there? How the fuck do I go there? Oh right, by running around a goddamn wall that goes through half the fucking zone! I'm barely exaggerating.

And just when I thought I was finally done  with this hell-hole (thank sweet baby jesus), there it was... Taris : Bonus Series! You get to say here a while longer and curse at your screen! Enjoy! 

I'm not sure yet if I won't just give up and move on to the next zone (as I'm already level 22!) or put my brave face on and finish those damn quests. The mere thought makes me want to choke kittens, but I really wanted to see everything each planet has to offer. Maybe I'll make an exception, just this once.

Where's a Death Star when you need a planet obliterated? Sigh.

My plans for the immediate future

My highest character is level 32. She hit 32 on Tatooine. Doing green quests. Because Kizu and I want to see as much content as possible. and apparently being in a group gives you bonus xp or something. And we didn't even do a lot of flashpoints or pvp. 

We did skip most of the quests on Alderaan just to do our class quest and get our Legacy asap. But we're going back there to see it all. Because it's fun. (Ok, not all quests make me squee with joy, but most of them are fairly entertaining.)

I'm like everyone else, I love hitting the next level, and the next one after that. But I'm in no rush to hit 50. In a couple levels, there will be no more quests to do. There will be endgame, and farming gear, and doing dailies for credits and more gear. I don't miss that one bit. For a long time, raiding (in WoW) was all that I wanted to do. I farmed and farmed, and killed internet dragons 'til my eyes bled, and got loot to beat bigger internet dragons. Can you say redundant? Sure, it was fun at the time. But that's not me anymore. And while I get that a lot of people still enjoy that a lot, it is not what I want to spend my time on. There's no right or wrong, it's all about what's fun to you.

Me, I love creating new alts. The amazing thing with this game, is that there are tons of options as far as re-playability goes. You can choose the same class/advanced class but go dark side instead of light! You can make a second Bounty Hunter and go powertech instead of mercenary! You can make a male instead of a female and get some different flirting/sexy time options.

There's lots of potential here.

That is why I think that when my Sorcerers hits level 50... I'll just focus on another character and enjoy the ride. I want to see it all. Sure, most of the quests will be almost the same the second time around (and third, and fourth!) but I get to see different class storylines, or choose to save kittens instead of eating them. I can also go see what Unicornland has to offer. Err. I mean the Republic. 

Plus, I'm sure there are hundreds of people out there I haven't banged yet. Can't let that happen.

The Kerrigan Legacy

I really loved Iyeri's post introducing her characters, so I've decided to do the same! Here are the girls!

Name and title : Lord Jori

Race : Human

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Advanced Class : Sorcerer

Alignment : Dark

Jori is my main. She's cruel and bloodthirsty, and it's strangely satisfying. She will probably be the first of my characters to reach level 50. If I ever start raiding at some point, it will most likely be on this character. 

Jori is currently questing on Alderaan with her buddy Vaalha (the boyfriend's BH).  

Name and title : Alyss, Hired Gun

Race : Human

Class: Bounty Hunter

Advanced Class : Mercenary

Alignment : Light

Alyss is my primary alt. Her storyline has me completely hooked. I love the playstyle and I'm having a blast.

Alyss is currently blowing shit up on Balmorra.

Name and title : Lyrestra the Merciless

Race : Pureblood

Class: Sith Warrior

Advanced Class : Marauder

Alignment : Dark

Lyrestra used to be a human back on the first server. Since we've switched, I've missed her a lot and decided to reroll her, but with more style. This is my only melee character, and it's a nice change of pace. It's nice sometimes to just bash on things until they bleed.

Name and title : Agent Zashana

Race : Zabrak

Class: Imperial Agent

Advanced Class : Sniper

Alignment : Neutral

Nevie the human Sniper just didn't feel right at all, so I've decided to reroll a new Imperial Agent : Zashana. I've decided to go neither all dark or light side. I just do whatever feels right depending on the situation. It feels a lot more natural to just go with the flow, rather than always going for the obvious Light or Dark answer. And it seems Kaliyo is a lot more flexible than I thought.

Shani is currently working against terrorists and rebels on Dromund Kaas.

The Sniper's identity

I still don't get my Sniper's deal. Not that I roleplay, really, (not outside my head anyway) but it's fun to become the character as I play it. Makes it a lot more interesting.

There's a quest in Dromund Kaas' Citadel that's supposed to help players understand what Imperial Agents are about, or so I assume. But it only confused me more. I'm not sure what they were trying to tell me.

My Sniper, Nevie, is into the dark side stuff. She kills a lot. And she was accused of being too bloodthirsty for an Imperial Agent. Err... what? I guess it means those agents are like machines. No display of emotions regarding their work. It's like they don't get involved in the killings. It's not for revenge, for politics, for money. Killing is not something they can enjoy or disapprove of. It's just something that they do, like eating or sleeping. It's all very ... cold.

I'm curious enough about the Imperial Agent story to keep leveling this character, but I look forward to having a better grasp on her personality. In a game like this, where your choices can alter your experience to some degree, the character's personality seems rather important. For example, I don't like when my Sith ends up saying something that sounds submissive or polite, to the point that I often start the conversation over to say something more suiting instead. Even if it doesn't have such a big impact on my experience, I find it a lot more fun when my characters have a predefined attitude towards the world, and act accordingly.

My Sniper went dark because Kaliyo seemed to prefer violence (and I have to admit I love being a murdering bitch on both my Sith). My companion often influence my choice on the matter. But it's silly of me to let a companion decided for me how I want to play. It never occurred to me before, but it's no big deal if Kaliyo thinks I'm a wimp. Sure, it'll take time before she warms up to me, but who cares? If it's a problem for end game, if I ever get there, I'll deal with it then.

So I'm not sure yet if Nevie respects authority or not, if she's a patriot or some sort of mercenary. I don't know if she enjoys chaos, or if it simply doesn't bother her. I don't even know if I'll stick to the dark side or go Light or even neutral, but there's only one way to find out: play more and get to know her.

Just a quick post

Just a quick post to show off my new chest piece Kizu got me today.

Jori is now level 31 and a half, and if things go as planned, she should be level 32 (if not 33) tomorrow, and should have her legacy name. I still don't know what that will be, but I still got some time to think about it...

Surprise

Last night, Kizu and I were questing on Tatooine. That place is... huge and sandy, to say the least. Most of the quests are ok, it's mostly about killing rogue droids, slaughtering adorable Jawas (first time I've ever felt bad about killing anyone) and dealing with the Sons of Palawa. There's also some zombie cyborg thing that is pretty interesting. Not too sure what that was about.

As a sorcerer, I had to talk to a contact at the cantina. A guy named Andronikos Revel. The name was familiar, but I didn't know why. It clicked when Khem Val started whining about how I was replacing him. Oh! Right. A new companion. Fuckin' finally.

I love Niko. He's kinda hawt. He's got the bad boy vibe going for him, and his voice is pretty sexy. That romance thing just got interesting. Plus, he does great dps, I can actually hear what he says, and he isn't in my way when I'm trying to loot or click on things. Yay for Niko. Here's hoping his story is interesting. But all I really care about, is that I finally can get rid of Khem.

After I took care of some low-life scum for Niko, I went on my merry way and ran across the desert to find people that had the artifact I was after. I was always too late and they had all left the encampment before I got there, until I finally ended up in a tent where there was a dead body. They had all killed each other, because the artifact was cursed, so all I had to do is loot the thing, and that was it. Back to the ship. It was all very anticlimactic. But Jori is now level 30 and a half!

And now, all that's standing between me and the end of chapter one is Alderaan.

...and half of Tatooine since Kizu wants to do all the quests before we move on. Sigh.

The day one of my toons got the -40 of shame... from me

Kizu finally found some time to play with me today, so Jori the evil sorcerer went from level 26 to 28 and a half. It was pretty fun.

But we we're questing in Nar Shaddaa, a level 20-24 zone. Most of the quests were unproblematic. The Heroic4 quests were somewhat of a challenge at times, as we 2man'd em, but nothing impossible. It only gave me more reason to hate Khem Val as he systematically attacked the target I had just CC'd. Grr.

At the end, the quests were grey, and so were the mobs. But we've seen pretty much all the zone had to offer. Not my favourite zone by a long shot, but I guess we can't all love the same things. The Promenade looks great, love the colours, but everything is so... indoors-y, and well ... shady. I guess you could say I'm not too fond of Hutts and the likes. But I digress.

The fun part in all this is the bonus series are level 31. Mkay. Guess we'll go level somewhere else for a while, and then come back. Maybe I'm missing something here, but doesn't make much sense to me to jump from level 24 content, to 31 in the same zone.

Or maybe they knew we'd outlevel the content and we'd be 28ish at that point. I do want to see as much of the quests as possible, but this a little ridiculous. I haven't been in a zone of the appropriate level since... Dromund Kaas.

In other news, my sorcerer is slowly but surely getting to the end of Act 1, which is good. I'm not especially fond of the storyline so far, but I get to be evil and that's fun. For the first time though, I've been completely flabbergasted by some things I had to say in order to get my dark side points. There were other answers that sounded better, and more evil-like, but they didn't give dark side points, so I had to ask for those people to give me all their credits so I could get myself robes made of solid gold.

Even I thought that was out of line. And just plain wrong. Slaughter a whole village if you like, torture innocents and butcher anyone who stands in your way, but don't take money from worshippers like some vile, low-life, greedy thief. Surely a powerful sith such as her would never lower herself to this level? Well apparently yes. And it made me feel terribly ashamed of my sorcerer.

I mean, even that no good Khem Val winced. It really was that bad.

Agent Nevie

I gave the Imperial Agent another shot, and I'm quite glad I did. Nevie is now level 8, and I'm still wondering which Advanced Class I'll be picking up in two levels, because they both look awesome. I have a slight preference for Sniper, though.

I kinda love the playstyle after all. It's pretty fun to find a good hiding spot, throw grenades and shoot people between the eyes. At first, I didn't get what her deal was. The Siths are just powerful and evil, it's what they're trained for. Bounty Hunters kill or steal or cheat and get paid for it. But what are the Imperial Agents all about?

I decided that an Agent (mine anyway) is about serving the Empire and getting the job done, no matter what. I get to be a female James Bond with a license to kill, and massacre, and inflict pain.

Plus, I get to be dark side, and my companion Kaliyo is badass and enjoys the chaos I leave in my wake. I get to be a cold bitch that cares only for herself, and knows no remorse. I don't know yet if she actually enjoys killing like my Siths do, or if she just doesn't care as long as she gets paid. I don't see her losing sleep over killing innocents. But I can't picture her as truly evil, either.

I look forward to figuring this one out. This is gonna be fun.

There are two things I really want right now

• Character transfers between servers so my Maurauder can wreak havoc with her sisters.
• An in-game barbershop so Jori and Alyss can have different haircuts.

I'm such a girl, this is driving me crazy! All my toons being higher than level 20, I really don't feel like just starting from scratch...again. So fuck it, I'll try and be patient. I'm a big girl, I can deal with it.

/twitches